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August 25, 2013

Weekly Roundup -- Week Ending 8/25/13

Dusting off some links this week and sharing some of the top stories from the past couple of weeks.

Cities/States and Laws

Chippewa Falls, WI is reworking its animal control laws....and they will not be breed-specific.

Bonner Springs, KS is still wisely looking at repealing their 25 year old law that targets pit bulls.

Forsyth, MO appears to be looking at a new dangerous dog law that is focused on behavior, not breed.

Dog bites/attacks

Major dog bites are rare for the 75 million owned dogs in this country, but they do happen, and when they happen, it is important to focus on the causes of the attacks, not breed. Focusing on breed does not help.

For many years, many states in Australia have played with the idea of targeting specific breeds of dogs, with some of them having passed such laws, in spite of professional opposition to the idea.

A 21 month old toddler in Milford, IN had to be airlifted to a hospital after he stepped on the paw of a Great Dane and the dog spun around and bit the child in the face.

A paralyzed man in Trumann, AR had a stray "small white fluffy" dog chew off his testical while he slept.

Dog bites in the UK continue to climb -- 25 years after they passed a law targeting specific breeds. They've seen a 551% increase in two decades and yet still stubbornly hang onto their law.

Animal Shelters

Apparently political disagreement between the County of Kern County and the City of Bakersfield has led to the city evicting the Kern County Animal Control from it's shelter at the end of September. The move would force Kern County AC to remove 900 animals, many of them from the city of Bakersfield, as part of the move. As is usual, when animals end up in the middle of a political controversy, it's the animals that have the most to lose. I'll be following this one in the coming weeks....

Volunteers at the Chester County (PA) SPCA are complaining that the shelter is becoming a "kill factory" because of poor management.

The White House offered its official statement on Breed-Specific Legislation -- calling it "largely ineffective" and "often a waste of public resources" -- and ccalling for a community approach to the prevention of dog bites.

More fear and hysteria out of Detriot this week, where major news outlets began reporting that the city had an estimated 50,000 stray dogs roaming in it, biting people, killing pets, etc. Turns out locals are saying that while stray dogs are a problem in Detroit, the 50,000 number "seems quite inflated". Meanwhile, another local writer noted "Propagating phony-baloney numbers to spike interest in Detroit's strays may attract attention in the short-run, but int he long run it can only harm the cause by undermining credibility".

A new study suggests that performing vasectomies and tubal ligations in feral cat colonies may be more effective than spay/neuter becasue it would preserve hormone-driven behavior such as territorial traits in male cats and can help reduce a colony's reproduction rates.

Keep Calm and Stop Reacting - Beyond Breed wonders why may of the popular 'pit bull' memes continue to exist and why in spite of the obvious signs that public perceptions of the dogs has changed, the memes have not.

Such Sadness -- A story of an adopted Beagle that attacked the other family dog in the middle of the night and no one quite knows why, and the sadness that comes from a loving pet not acting out in love. -- From DoggyWoof

They want them, they really do! -- ASPCA Pro notes that people really do want to adopt pit bulls. Great article, although it's frustrating that this is somehow still a debate given that pit bulls are among the nation's most popular dogs.